


Winter Calm

by samcat



Category: Pokemon
Genre: Domestic, M/M, autistic characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-17 16:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13081209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samcat/pseuds/samcat
Summary: Green and Red, and Pikachu, have decided to take a break from the rest of the world for a while in order to enjoy Christmas and New Year together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a birthday gift but ended up as a Christmas present haaa I'm sorry I'm so slow. I'll make it a 2 chapters one to make up for it.  
> Edit: Change of plans, 3 chapters will be the goal.

“Red!” Green shouted, knowing that he wouldn’t get a response. Still, he felt it was only polite to call out instead of rushing across the house into his room without warning.

He opened the door to his room and found Red spinning around on his desk chair to the music that way playing from his laptop. He smiled at Green when he faced him, only to then continue the spinning while he waved hello.

Green smiled at the cuteness of it and almost forgot why he’d come in here, but was quickly reminded when the song ended, only to start over again from the - very loud - beginning.

“Can you turn that down?” he gestured to the laptop.  
Red shook his head, but stopped the chair mid-spin and turned down the volume regardless.  
“Thanks,” Green said. “I know you like that stuff but you gotta be more protective of your hearing. And mine!”  
Red nodded, but Green could see on his face that he had no plans to change his behaviour.

Red’s Pikachu, who unbeknownst to Green had been sleeping on the bed until now, woke up when Green turned around to leave the room. Green stopped when he saw them and reached down a hand to pet them.

The Pikachu took their time yawning and stretching before they took a step forward to headbutt Green’s outstretched hand. He smiled at them again and make sure to scratch them behind the ears before he took his hand back. But as soon as he did, they made a pitiful sound at him.

“Gotta keep petting now,” Red murmured, as he knew perfectly well that his Pikachu was always starved for cuddles when they had just woken up.

Green sighed, but sat down on the bed so that the Pikachu could climb into his lap.

He stayed there patting and scratching them while Red went back to stimming out to the music. As long as Green was in the room, he didn’t turn to volume up again. Deciding to take advantage of this, Green laid down on the bed, stretching out over is as loudly and visibly as he could. The Pikachu loved this; they instantly moved up to lie down on top of his chest.

They stayed like that - Green on the bed cuddling with Pikachu and Red spinning contently around on his chair - long enough for the song to repeat again several times over. Green wouldn’t admit it to anyone other than Red, but he actually loved spending time like this. As much as he normally hated feeling unproductive, how he normally hated ‘wasting’ time by doing doing, this gave him a sense of calm like nothing else he knew of. The weight of the Pikachu on his chest and the sight of Red in the corner of his eye, the music repeating to the point where it had stopped sounding like music and started sounding like him, it was something he couldn’t quite describe how much he loved.

But all good things had to come to an end. And what ended this was the buzzing of Green’s phone; the Pikachu yawned and moved off his chest to groom itself when it did. Green instantly missed the warm weight, but at least it meant that he could move to check his phone without needed to feel guilty for disturbing the sleeping fuzzball.

It was a reminder he had set himself long enough ago for him to have completely forgotten about it. But he was thankful he had set it, because he had also completely forgotten about the thing it was set to remind him of.

“Hey Red,” he sat up. “How about we take a trip to the mall? I gotta buy some Christmas gifts for Oak and the rest before it’s too late.”  
Red let his spinning chair slow down to a natural halt and smiled at Green, nodding.  
“Alright,” Green grinned back at him and swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing up quick enough to startle the Pikachu. They recovered quickly though and when they understood they were going out, they swiftly moved to Red and climbed up on his shoulders, clearly ready for a new adventure.

Green laughed at the sight of it and picked up Red’s hat from the nightstand, putting it on the Pikachu’s head.  
Red stood up, taking the hat from the Pikachu and putting it on his own head instead and taking Green’s hand in his.  
“Let’s go then,” Green said. “You can use my jacket.”  
Red nodded and squeezed his hand. “Thanks.”


	2. Chapter 2

Red held the door open for Green when they came back home, allowing him to get inside without needing to let go of any of the shopping bags he was carrying. Their shopping trip had ended up taking far longer than either of them had expected. It hadn’t been until some of the store in the mall had started to close down for the night that they had noticed how late it was and they’d had to sprint to catch the last bus home.

Putting the bags down on the floor, letting some of them lean against the wall for support, Green stretched and Red decided to follow his example, his shoulders letting out a relieved cracking sound. Green laughed and rolled his shoulders to produce a similar sound.  
“You’d think we were retired with joins like this,” Green said.  
“We’re even noisier than Oak.”  
They cracked a few more jokes, including one joke about _cracking_ jokes, while they unwrapped themselves from their jackets and scarves. Red had been wearing Green’s jacket during their trip, which had necessitated Green to buy a new one given the chilly weather. Thankfully he had been able to find a coat he liked in one of the first stores they went into - a long, dark grey wool goat with deep green buttons. The buttons had been what sealed the deal, when Red had pointed out that he shared a name with their color.

“Well, that’s Christmas shopping finally done,” Green said as he hung his new coat up on the coat rack. “Just in time for the party tomorrow.”  
“Maybe next year we won’t put it off for so long,” Red replied and Green nodded in agreement.  
“Can I keep the jacket?” Red gestured to the jacket he had borrowed from Green, now hanging next to his new coat on the coat rack.  
“Sure. It suits you far better than it ever suited me, anyway.”  
“Thanks,” Red smiled and leaned forward to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

-

The next morning they struggled to get up in time. After the long day spent out the night before, they were both still exhausted when they woke up and neither of them wanted to leave the soft warmth of their bed.

Green was the first of the two to get up. He’d draped one of his blankets over his shoulders, allowing himself to keep at least some of the comfort of his bed even though he left it. He walked down to the kitchen first, turning on the oven so that they could finish making the Christmas dinner they had started making the previous night, but been too tired to finish.

While it was heating up, he brushed his teeth and then went to drag Red out of his bed. As soon as he walked into the room, Red’s Pikachu jumped down from the bed and swiftly walked out of the open door, moving towards the kitchen to either wait for them to bring them breakfast or find a way to break open the fridge door to steal something on their own. If anything this served as motivation for Green to get Red up and ready all the faster, as he didn’t want that second option to become a reality and have the Pikachu eat up what was supposed to be the Christmas dinner they’d invited their friends over to eat.

“It’s morning,” he said and opened the blinds, letting in the light from the rising sun. “We’ve got cooking to do, so you can’t sleep in today.”  
Red moaned and put his pillow over his face.  
“Don’t be like that,” Green said and sat down on the bed next to him, pulling the pillow off of his face. “Come on.”  
“Ugh,” Red rubbed his eyes but reluctantly sat up. “It’s too early.”  
“Nope, it’s just early enough. We’ve still got cooking to do, remember? And we already did the Christmas shopping in the last minute. I want to get this done without having to run around like a stressed Doduo five minutes before the guests arrive.”  
“Fine, fine,” Red yawned. “I’m awake. I’ll go to the kitchen when I’ve showered.”  
“Alright,” Green ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead. “Thanks. I need your help with the sauce.”

-

When he got back down to the kitchen, Green was grateful to see that the Pikachu was patiently waiting on top of one of the counters.  
“Good morning to you too,” he said and reached out his hand to scratch them. The Pikachu headbutted it before accepting the scratches with a pleased noise.  
“Breakfast?”  
Another pleased noise as a reply, louder than the previous one.  
“Alright, I’m on it,” Green said and got out a plate. They’d tried using a bowl for the Pikachu at first, but they always seemed offended when they did. So eventually they'd decided to just have a couple of plates dedicated to the Pikachu to eat from.

Red joined them right when the Pikachu was done eating. He gave them a pat on the head as he walked by them and they chirped happily at him before starting to clean themself.  
“Okay, I’m here,” Red said. “Should I start the sauce now?”  
“If you want,” Green said, sitting crouched in front of the oven to keep an eye on what he was cooking. “I’m not using the stove for anything else right now.”  
“You’re in the way.”  
“Mhm,” Green looked up at him and smiled before turning his attention back to the food. “I’ll move when you’re done chopping everything up.”  
“It doesn’t cook faster because you stare at it.”  
“It might.”  
“It won’t.”  
Green sighed. “Fine, I’ll get out of your way.”  
“Thanks,” Red said with a satisfied smile and moved over to get the ingredients out. “What’s in there, anyway?”  
“Nothing less than my famous potato gratin.”  
Red raised his eyebrows at him, hands already full of things, closing the fridge with his elbow while he spoke. “I’ve never heard of it.”  
“Well,” Green said. “It’s not famous yet, I’ve never made it before. But everyone’s gonna love it when I serve it tonight and after that it’s going to be.”  
“Sure.”  
“Oh come on,” Green gently punched his shoulder. “Have some faith in me.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Come on!” Green shouted. He was already outside with the Pikachu, waiting for Red to finish the wrestling match he was having with his scarf. “We’re going to miss the fireworks.”  
“We’re not!” Red shouted back. “Calm down!”  
“I’ll be calm when we’re on our way.”  
“They’re not even here to pick us up yet,” Red said as he stepped out and locked the door after himself.  
Green stomped his feet on the ground as a reply, impatiently glancing down the road by their house. Two of their friends had invited them along to a new year’s party and had offered to drive them there.  
Red walked up next to him, his Pikachu quickly moving to his shoulders, instantly on their way to undo the hard work he had done with wrapping his scarf. But he let them pull at it as much as they wanted, seemingly not bothered by it.  
“They’ll be here soon,” he said and tried to give Green a comforting smile, but he wasn’t sure if he got the expression right.”  
Green went from stomping to tapping his feet, putting his hands into his pocket to keep them warm since he had decided he wouldn't need gloves tonight. Red soon joined into his rhythm, tapping his fingers against his thigh in time with Green tapping his foot on the ground. Even the Pikachu joined in after a while, wagging their tail along with the others.

Their friends finally showed up almost 15 minutes later. Red tried his best to greet them cheerfully, but he suspected that his smile looked as forced as Green’s did. Both of them were feeling more cold than excited at this point. But once they got into the backseat of the warm car, their mood ligheted in the same pace as their shivering stopped. And soon Green was happily chatting with their friends, with Red making an effort to join in with a word or a sentence or two every now and then.

“Why were you standing out there in the night, anyway? I’m sure you’d see us from the house,” Leaf said after a while, taking her eyes off the road for a second to look at them in the rear view mirror. Lyra agreed with a nod next to her.  
“It was Green,” Red said. “He was pacing around inside. There was less stress for him outside, or he thought so at least.”  
Lyra and Leaf laughed and Green blushed.  
“I didn’t know what your car looked like,” he mumbled.  
“We’d have honked at you!” Leaf said.  
“Yeah, we would have,” Lyra agreed.  
“Whatever,” Green shifted. “We’re in the car with you girls now. And we’re on our way to the party. It doesn’t matter if I was outside with Red or inside with Red before.”  
“We’re actually not on our way to the party anymore,” Leaf said and pulled over. “We’re here.”

The house they had arrived at was huge and, from the looks of it, very old; it looked exactly the like kind of place you’d imagine elaborate costume parties being held for the upper class. Green looked down at his own clothes. Even though they weren’t bad, they were definitely not what he imagine people at places like this to wear. He threw a nervous glance at the others and felt more comfortable when he confirmed that none of them looked like someone out of a costume drama either.

“Who lives here?” asked Red. “Who’s hosting, I mean?”  
“Oh, I don’t know actually,” Leaf said as she got out of the car, the rest of the gang quickly following her lead. “I haven’t been here before. It was one of Lyra’s friends who was invited and they said it was okay to bring along friends.”  
“So we aren’t technically invited,” Green said. “Your friend was, and your friend was allowed to bring their friends. But we’re just friends of friends.”  
“You’ll be fine,” Lyra assured him. “There wasn’t a limit for how many friends they could bring along, anyway. And it’s not like you’re gonna get quizzed at the door by someone to find out whose friend you are.”  
Red elbowed Green’s arm and grinned at him.  
“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” Green said to him. “You love seeing me all nervous.”  
“It’s unusual,” Red said.  
“Yeah, well, this,” he gestured around himself at nothing in particular. “This is unusual. We haven’t been here before and we’ll probably not know anyone else here other than Leaf and Lyra. This isn’t going to be like our usual new year get-togethers.”  
“So?” Red’s voice was notably calm compared to Green’s. “New year is the only real good time for new experiences.”  
“Since when are _you_ in favour of new experiences?” Green stared at him. “You’re the most routine-loving person I’ve known. Even more than me.”  
“Yeah, but,” Red shrugged. “New year. New me. All that.”  
“The new year isn’t here for another few hours,” he replied. “So can you join me in being nervous for a little while? It’s gross to be the only one feeling it.”  
Red laughed at him and took his hand in his.  
A firework went off in the sky above them and momentarily made everything glow orange. Red flinched at it, unprepared.  
“They’re not supposed to fire those yet.”  
“See? I’m not the only one on edge.”

They didn’t have more time to complain about the lack of routine before Leaf and Lyra herded them inside. The house was already full of other people; some of them were people they had met before and vaguely recognized, but most of them were total strangers. Their two friends seemed to know more of the people there than they did and they quickly drifted away from each other. Red and Green lingered near the door for a while before they gathered up the courage to start mingling.

But as time went on, both of them ended up finding themselves bored and distancing themselves from the rest of the people there, eventually standing together at the top of a flight of stairs and looking down at the other people dancing below them.  
“Not our kind of party, huh?” Green said.  
Red gave a wordless humming as a reply.

A few minutes of silence between them followed before Green spoke again.  
“You know what?”  
“What?”  
“I think there’s a way to get onto the roof.”  
“...Okay. But why?”  
“Well,” Green pushed away from the railing he had leaned against. “It’s almost midnight. So we might as well get ourselves a good view of the fireworks?”  
Red grinned and nodded eagerly. “Sure, let’s go!”

It took a good few minutes for Green to figure out how to open the hatch that gave them access to the roof, but once they got up there they were both smiling like two excited children.

“Look!” Red shouted, half-running across the roof. “Flat! And so much space!”  
“And no other people to rub elbows with.”  
“Yeah!” he slowed down and walked back to Green. “This is a great idea.”  
“Thanks,” Green smiled. “I do have those sometimes, you know.”  
Red, still beaming with happiness, grabbed Green’s hand and dragged him with him to a part of the roof where they could sit down and lean back against a part of the architecture. They spent a few minutes sitting there on top of Green’s coat in silence, breathing in the cold air with their fingers braided together, before midnight came.

A single, small rocket led the way and exploded into a modest green flower. Red nudged Green when it did and laughed and Green couldn’t help but to laugh back. Maybe this was a sign that the new year would be a good one for him.

The first explosion barely had time to fade away before the rest of the sky exploded in every color and shape imaginable; everything from fancy multi-colored Pokémon shapes to the classic orange explosions flashed above them in celebration.

“Had a good new year’s eve?” Red leaned close against him to be heard over the explosions.  
“As successful as my potato gratin.”  
Red snorted but decided not to make fun of him for that comment. Instead, he leaned his head against his shoulder and continued watching the show in the sky, trying not to think about the bother of finding Leaf and Lyra again when they needed to go back home and instead focusing on the warmth of Green’s shoulder against his face.


End file.
